Lead And Limestone

[Johnch]

I helped clean out and upgrade parts of one of the ranges backstops
2 Of us had a trailers and front end loaders

The supports for a deflector plate were rotting away and shot away
20 or years ago they decided to use railroad crossing ties for the supports

So we used the front end loaders and lowered and removed the deflector plate
So they could dig holes , install steel supports and pour concrete
The deflector plate is chunk of 3/4" thick steel , I was told came from a Naval Ship
It will be reinstalled in 2 or 3 weeks

Well I also scooped out a number of partly full 55 gallon barrels of a mix of lead and white sand ( fine crushed limestone )
That was under the deflector plate in a pit

OK I figure the mix is 60% to 70% lead and the rest stone
As there are 30 to 50 lb chunks of built up lead splatter
They would just scatter the white sand in front of the pit from time to time to catch any bullet splatter not caught in the pit
As the target holders are 10 feet in front of the deflector plate
The "Pit" was about 3' deep and normally full of water
But a lot of the time they just pushed the lead & stone mix into the pit as that was easy

I plan on dumping the mix on a tarp in the barn
Letting the mix dry for a while , as it was covered by water
Then removing as much of the chunks of mostly lead as I can

But then I will be left a mix of lead and limestone

Any good suggestions on ways to smelt the mix into useable alloy ?

Thanks
John

[JimB..]

Suggestions, yes, good, you decide.

Dump it on a tarp, leaf blow off as much sand as you can, scoop what’s left into a cold smelting pot, heat slowly, skim and flux. The sand will float, you’ll want to get it all for obvious reasons. I’d be very thorough stirring and scraping with some dry wood stirring sticks.

Could also put small pieces in a vibratory tumbler, the sand should separate down and the lead bits will float up, then smelt as above.

Edit: I was thinking silica beach sand. If it’s really limestone you might brush it off and then try a strong acid to dissolve it, maybe start with something mild like CLR.

[john.k]

I d just melt the lot in a big container .....the limestone will float on the metal and be skimmed off.........any other way will be costly.

[Sasquatch-1]

If you are interested in separating the sand from the lead you could build a shaker table with .25" hardware cloth and an old motor.

When melting I would be VERY careful with the lead seeing as how it was submerged in water. I would consider starting each batch from an empty pot. I have experienced what happens when water is trapped in a piece of crusty old lead.

Also, if there are a lot of jacketed bullets mixed in, the jackets are worth good money if your scrap dealer will take them. With the amount you may be talking about it could be worth a short trip. Get a good magnet to pull the steel jackets out. Most salvage yards will check, and it will only take a couple for them to reject it as brass.

[Geezer in NH]

Melt scoop limestone of the top. Don't make it harder than it is. Limestone is just sand

[Winger Ed.]

I've heard of back stops being made from scraped warships. Depending on what kind of ship it came from:
It's not just sheet like we buy in the steel yard. It's armor plate and more like the steel a wrench is made of.

[rockshooter]

personally, considering the amount of labor involved, I'd find another source of lead. Sorta like a big bucket of "wheelweights" found nowadays- to me not worth the bother unless almost free.
Loren

[dverna]

personally, considering the amount of labor involved, I'd find another source of lead. Sorta like a big bucket of "wheelweights" found nowadays- to me not worth the bother unless almost free.
Loren

I tend to agree. But I am cheap and would try a small batch...say 50 lbs in my smelter pot and see how it works out. If it is too much work, I would find a more "frugal and energetic" caster to give it to.

[ioon44]

I remove any loose dirt (limestone) from range scrap, I would like to do most of the work at 70 deg F than 700 deg F and would use a lot less fuel to melt the lead.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I would smelt the sand/lead mix over a large campfire.
Start the fire and you will be free to do other things while it burns, or maybe a lawn chair and adult beverage?

Do you have a few large metal containers, like old propane tanks or even the bottom third of a 55 gallon barrel?

Also, you could sift the fine sand from the mix over a 1/4" or smaller hardware cloth like Sasquatch suggests. I don't think you'd even need a motor/shaker.

If you are interested in separating the sand from the lead you could build a shaker table with .25" hardware cloth and an old motor.

[BLAHUT]

Put it all in a big container, turn heat on low, drive off any water that maybe in mix, as lead starts to melt trash will flot to top and can be skimmed off, flux a couple times, pour into your ingot molds. easy as can almost get.

[super6]

Put it all in a big container, turn heat on low, drive off any water that maybe in mix, as lead starts to melt trash will flot to top and can be skimmed off, flux a couple times, pour into your ingot molds. easy as can almost get.

And use a screen to get most of the junk out.

[Johnch]

Thanks
I had the same ideas
But for some reason I was looking for a quick fix

This morning I leveled out the pile
I also removed any big chunks I could
I figure I have 700 - 800 lb of chunks
As 90% of the bullets shot into this bullet trap were from rifles
I expect the alloy to be semi soft

So I am betting on a good 45/70 alloy
As 400 gr each , casting them empties the lead pot

I am making a 2' x 2' sifter out of expanded metal mesh to remove as much of the bigger chunks I can
Then .... I think I have some 1/2" hardware cloth for another sifter

This is going to take a while to process

John

[Rickf1985]

Take what is left back to the range and put it right back where it came from. They used to let people dig lead from the backstops at the military ranges near me as long as they sifted the dirt over the holes they dug so the dirt ended up right back in the berms. But NOOOOO, People are idiots and they kept leaving holes all over the place and that ruined it for everybody. No longer allowed. Now they pay contractors millions of dollars to come in and clean the berms just so they can fill them up and and rinse and repeat. Of coarse I am downstream from the ranges and I have a well so I should not say too much. Lol.

[Bmi48219]

Muriatic / hydrochloric acid dissolves limestone.

[Charlie Horse]

I've had lead mixed with sand from a backstop. You couldn't do anything with it without raising dust. I'm sure that dust contained lead. If you breathe it......not good.

I made a "pan" out of 1/4" hardware cloth, then dumped a couple gallons of that mix onto the screen at the carwash. The sprayer cleaned it up real nice, but I don't think that was very environmentally friendly. I will not do that again.

From now on I will only use back stop lead that I can pick up by hand. Meaning whole boolits, basically. Those don't give off much dust.

[elmacgyver0]

You could play miner and pan it like they do for gold.
A bigger operation you could build a sluice box.
Many ways to separate it.
All depends on how much ambition you have.